HIGH RIDGING OF POTATOES

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27796, 22 October 1955, Page 7

HIGH RIDGING OF POTATOES

NECESSITY QUESTIONED IN BRITAIN Some tests now being made in Britain seem to indicate that the traditional method of high ridging of potatoes may not be ideal where yield is concerned. This was one of many interesting experiments demonstrated to members of the National Association of Seed Potato Merchants, at the University of Nottingham School of Agriculture, recently. In this experiment, an instrument is used which records the humidity at the base of potato drills. Its recordings show that with high ridges the soil tends to dry out quickly. Within two days of a recent heavy thunderstorm at Sutton Bonington the indications were that the moisture content at the base of the ridges had fallen below that required for the best growing conditions. This may suggest that the ideal method of planting is on the flat or with shallow ridges. If that is so, new problems arise. How are interrow cultivations to be carried out? Or are inter-row cultivations necessary? More than 300 varieties of potatoes, including seedlings not yet named, are undergoing various tests at Sutton .Bonington. Some tests are devised to try to discover the most suitable varieties for the potato trade, or to determine the varieties of potato best suited or adapted to different types of soil. Others are attempting to find the potato which will be. ideal for both the seed grower and the ware merchant.